Sorry there are no pictures….I was having major internet issues.
Part of my job as a squad leader, is to travel around and spend time with as many teams as possible, in the course of the month. It was easy at first, because 3 teams were staying in the same location. So Joel (my co-leader) and I stayed in Ongole for 7 days. Then we traveled by hot, sweaty, dusty bus to Kanigiri for 5 days to be with Team Rooted Freedom.
This time we were out in the beautiful countryside. We lived inside the church and the pastor and his family were absolutely amazing! They blessed us and served us, always with a face full of joy. I learned so much about hospitality from this beautiful family.
Our first day of ministry with the team, we traveled by rickshaw for over an hour to a village to drop off a Bible. Then we traveled to a Hindu village that has never heard the gospel, because they would never let anyone into the village. People were actually afraid to enter this place….even locals from nearby villages. As soon as the rickshaw pulled up…only to the entrance-we didn’t actually go in…..I saw HER.
I saw her from a mile away. The team decided to pray before we started anything, especially because we would be potentially entering a dark/dangerous place. The next thing I know, I opened my eyes and SHE was in our rickshaw, in the front seat!
Let me describe this little girl to you: she has very choppy hair, pulled up into a “pebbles” from the Flintstones ponytail. She had only a green, collared shirt on and was naked from the waist down, she was dirty, she only had like 2 teeth, and her elbows were bloody and full of something that looked like puss. She was about 4 or 5 years old and she was wild! She couldn’t speak, she just yelled and laughed spookishly, and was eating something that looked like curdled white cheese.
One of the elderly men grabbed her out of the rickshaw and held her arms tightly. She fought with all she could because she wanted to get close to us. They treated her like a disaster, they said she couldn’t speak, and that she would roam all over the village like a wild animal. It was evident this poor little girl was dealing with an evil spirit. Another young child..a boy…went and pulled her away and walked her back into the village and away from us.
I couldn’t pay attention to what was happening with the group, all of my focus was on this little girl. So I took Agape (our 14 year old) translator with me and went into the village, to follow the little girl. As soon as she saw me, she lifted her arms up to me for me to pick her up. I had a very difficult choice to make….do I pick up this dirty, bloody little girl, who people were afraid of, or do I think about myself and choose to reject her the way everyone in the village had been doing?
I picked her up…because I knew God would protect me. I just spoke life over her and prayed for the Lord to invade her with His tangible love. In those moments that I prayed, she seemed at peace. This woman came up to me and looked at me like I was absolutely nuts for holding this little girl. Turns out that woman was her MOTHER!
We all walked back to the group together and collectively prayed for the little girl. I thought for sure she would manifest in my arms, which was a little spooky, but I was bracing myself for anything and believing that the love of God conquers all. She didn’t manifest, and she didn’t speak miraculously either….but God did something that night.
The pastor said he had been praying for a very long time for access into that village. He said it was a miracle what happened that night….they actually let us in! We sang worship songs, at night and in the rain, and we prayed for a man who’s wife had mental illness. We also were invited into a man’s home where we were able to preach to many and pray for them.
This village was dark, the trees were full of crows, and you could feel the evil in the air. People actually had picture of demons, that were supposedly “protecting” their homes, on the outside of their houses. And still...God reigned supreme : )
